Thanks Brad, merry Christmas to you as well. AND you have helped me a lot, even in the posts you were grilled your knowledge helped me on my way as the internet is the only place where can learn this craft.
Thanks Davy. I think using it in a filling is the best idea. Here is the recipe I used to make the 50ml of gluhwein I needed.
50ml dry red wine, I used a good cabernet
t cinnamon
t cloves
all spice
1 orange rind
1 slice of lemon
Hi, I was making someGlhwein truffles using Glhwein I made myself. Sadly it was one of my total disasters. I drained the fat off and stored the remaining glob of chocolate in the fridge. Today I thought I will grate it and use it to make something for ourselves. It turned out exceptionally tasty when I grated it. Now I sit will all the lovely grated chocolate that I do not want to waste by using it as chocolate chips, it's just too tasty you all the lovely Christmas tastes coming through and it is smooth, not at all grainy.
So, any ideas what I can do with it. I thought of the possibility of using it in a cassata-like ice cream. Any better ideas? It sitting there in my fridge and I do not want it to go to waste.
Not always but we are having a heat wave 36C yesterday.
Thanks Ricardo, I think this is the best idea to get a portable one, it will not be as expensive. For interest's sake, it is so hot here that chocolate we poured out of the chocolate fountain in the market 24 hours ago is still not set. OK, I know because it is not tempered it takes longer, but certainly not 24 hours!
Thanks Omar, yes I think it is in temper but not cooling down fast enough because I notice that the little leftover chocolate actually sets just fine and has no chocolate bloom at all. Must be the heat. Money or not, I will have to get an aircon as I have never had to temper at such high temperatures and it simply does not work. I think I just needed some confirmation that it is not me.
The ganache problem must be related as I have tried again, leaving out the butter and it came out fine. I think I cannot get the chocolate cold enough before I add the butter. So I am going with a very basic ganache for now.
I am having problems again and I do not know if it is me or not. Is it at all possible to temper chocolate with room temperatures between 28C and 30C? This is what I have, I do not have aircon and I am not succeeding in tempering any chocolate at all. I am desperate as I have nothing to sell on Saturday.
What else I need to know is whether the heat can also give me trouble with making my ganache. I am having problems with it refusing to work. I end up with a blob of chocolate floating in fat! I am new to lots of work with chocolate but I have been making ganache for years and this is the first time I have this happening all the time.
I hope you have some advice for me. Is it impossible in this heat or is it me that can suddenly not do anything right at all!
Hi Everyone, I was wondering if it is possible to decorate chocolates with royal icing or will the royal icing do something to the chocolate.
The reason I ask is because I cannot afford a bag of white chocolate at the moment and I need to do some decorations in white for Christmas.
I have lots of cocoa butter though and maybe I can color it white somehow and use that. Does anyone have any ideas for me please. How do I get the cocoa butter white and do I have to temper it before I use it? I do not even know if you get edible white coloring and if I will be able to get it. I see recipes where people add milk powder to cocoa butter, will that be an option?
Thanks
Thanks Melanie, I am glad to hear that it can be done. I think the mistake I am making is to let them get too soft, as you say, I should work faster and them I think getting them cool afterwards is also something I did not do so, before the chocolate was really set it started to go everywhere. I can see now that is the biggest mistake I made.
There is soooo much I still need to learn, but with all the help I get here I will succeed in the end.
Thanks Nino, I will keep that in mind. To be honest I could only find Barco and Chocolate World and they do not stock the molds we need. It is difficult to find the suppliers if you do not know where to look. I go to the internet and simply find nothing.
Everything else I need I have been able to find in the Gauteng area, but with the molds I seem to hit a brick wall. This is my biggest problem, no one seems to have decent brochures with clear photos so I can see what they really have. I am still continuing with my search.
If you can give me the name of a supplier of decent molds I will be very grateful.
Sorry if I sound negative about South Africa, but I am just so tired of battling to find suppliers.
Ok, thanks everyone. So I have two things to think about this week.I will get hold of some soft foam rubber and try the snobinettes.
I will see if I can get the molds for the spheres. You will be surprised at how difficult it is to get decent molds in South Africa. You mostly only get the "hobby" kind. I am sure other chocolatiers know where to get them and if anyone from South Africa can point me in the right direction I will appreciate it. I can find nothing on the net or any stores in the Pretoria and Johannesburg vicinity that stock a decent selection.
As a long term solution I do think the spheres may be easier, but the snobinettes can sure help in the mean while as I need a solution pretty quick.
I have a caramel center that is very soft. It is very tasty so I would love to keep it as it is, but it is impossible to dip. I do not have the means to use truffle shells at the moment.
I was wondering if it will be possible to dip them by hand when they are very cold and hard. I know the shell will probably crack, but I was wondering if I do that and it turns out more manageable for a second dip if I will not be able to keep it as is.Will the fact that the first dip screws up the temper of the chocolate result in problems with the second dip?
If it is not possible I will have to change the recipe.
Ah, what a good idea. They must be in temper as my associate just brought some mold back that she used for marketing. I made them in August and they are still fine. Thanks.
Ok, so I have been trying to take photos of my molds with the problems. The photos are not very good, but never the less you will be able to see the kind of "streaks" and even something that looks like chocolate bloom. The top is beautifully shiny, falls out of the molds if I do not turn them around carefully with a good snap. Also it is not all the molds from the one batch, some are perfect than some has these marks and chocolate bloom. The ones that are so very white shows how the white "spots" is more visible at certain angles and at others you cannot see it. Could it be the way I work with them. I spoon the chocolate into the molds. Should I rather try the method with the plastic bottle? I just find that the nozzle clogs after a while, so help please!
I do not have a decent camera, do not know how to get the photos from my cell that does take decent photos as I have to do it with blue tooth and I do not know how to do it and even with the best equipment I will not be able to take decent photos, so I hope these will give you an idea of my problem.
I'm sorry I still don't have photos to show you (I have no clue how to get them in focus!), hopefully my son will pitch up here some time, he is never around on weekends! These last few days I ran into even more problems with my molds. Now I get full out chocolate bloom, I can understand that is a tempering problem, what I do not understand is that I have no problem with my dipped truffles?
I am using a long stem teaspoon to put the chocolate into the molds. Previously they came out OK as I have said above, but I am now wondering it that is the problem. Should I try the method of the plastic bottle with the chocolate in it? Will that make any difference. I it was only a tempering problem I should have problems with my dipped truffles as well?
Sorry, but I have another question, AGAIN! My molds I made last night comes out of the mold with only a very light tap and, of course, the part that was on the mold is beautiful and shiny, but the bottoms are dull, no chocolate bloom though.
I get it with all my molds, all the molds I have made a long time ago is still beautifully shiny on the top, dull at the bottom, but even after months no chocolate bloom. I am keeping them to see what is going to happen! Any idea why that is the case? Does it mean my chocolate is not quite in temper yet?
I have been going on happily tempering my Valrhona and getting my truffles and molds all very beautiful, now suddenly it is not working. The chocolates unmold perfectly, but even before they set the backs have chocolate bloom.
I thought maybe I am taking it too high for the working temperature as I am taking it to the 32C as on the back of the package. Initially I take it to very high, about 58C and then temper with the seed method to 29C and up to about 32C.
I am wondering if it could be the temperature as it is summer here in South Africa (well not really, but cannot tell the difference!) The room I am working in at the moment is about 26C, but in the morning it was probably round 24C. Previously I worked at 22C without problems.
So I do not know what I am doing here. Maybe it is the heat, I do not know how humid it is, but we have to bake and cook in the same room, so maybe it is a little too humid but it has never been a problem before.
I think I let it get too cold working with it this morning, it went down to about 29.4C at a stage, I pressed on because I was nearly finished, but all but the first two molds have chocolate mold even before they set.
I have had my husband wash and dry all the molds and I am going to try again. I am baking now and as soon as I am finished I am going to try again. I have it on the stove melting now so that it is at about 58C for a few hours. So I'll let you know what happens.
Any ideas will really help. I do not know enough to figure out why I am suddenly having problems.
Thanks.
OK, more troubles this week! I have tried to temper Manjari THREE times already without any success. Could it be because it is too hot. I know temperature and humidity can be a problem, but I do not know how much.
The temperature is about 32C outside but inside I think it is about 28-29C. I cannot measure the humidity, but according to the weather bureau it is not high only about 14% so that can not be the problem. I am using the cold bath method as I am running out of seed. I have been able to temper this way with quite a bit of success last week, but now it simply does not want to happen.
Help, please!
Sorry, but one more thing. I sit with chocolate that must have overheated and my battles with the thermometer. It tastes fine and feels smooth in the mouth, but it has very little hard pieces that looks like caramelized milk.
Will it be possible to temper it? I'm even thinking of caramelizing it in the oven as I see a recipe from Valrhona for white chocolate. I was thinking I can them mold it and sell it as some kind of caramelized chocolate, or something. I cannot afford to lose it, so I am trying to think of a way to use it as the taste is still perfect.
Thanks Debra, maybe that is the mistake I am making. I try and temper just enough because of the HUGE amount of untempered chocolate cluttering everywhere, even the bedrooms!
So, I will see what happens if I try 1 kilo at a time. I still have quite a bit of tempering to do for this weekend. Some of the bad results I have heated a little with the hair dryer and sprinkled some grated chocolate on them. At the moment they look fine so I will see what happens during the night.
I am getting desperate here so I really appreciate your help. I feel a little sorry for myself and feel as if there is too much pressure on me to learn tempering while I have to produce for the markets.
OK, so now I still have problems. I am tempering the Valrohna Manjari, Guanaja and Jivara Lactee without any problem. T
he Equatoriale Noire as well as the Lactee I just cannot get in temper no matter what I do. I have been tempering all morning using the tempering guidelines as on the package without any luck. Is there something special about the Equatoriale that makes it more difficult to temper?
I have tried the seed method as well as the cold water method without any success.
Debra thought I will just come back and thank you. I new about the double boiler technique, but I have never had the guts to try it until you prompted me. Thank you so much. On my first attempt my molds came out just fine. Not perfection yet, but definitely usable which is a relieve as I do not have a lot of time. I tempered some milk chocolate even though I knew it is more difficult but I wanted to get them out of the way. Now I can move on to the fun of the dark chocolate.
Thanks again
Magriet.
OK, so I just want to make sure. Even if I start with chocolate that is not in temper I can still use this method? That would really help me a lot because I sit here with LOTS of chocolate that is out of temper because of my failed attempts at tempering. The plain chocolate is getting better but the milk chocolate is still giving me problems.
Thanks so much for your willingness to help. I hope one day I will know enough myself to be able to help others as well.
Thanks Debra, I think it is my nervousness that is making things worse. I am under pressure to "perform!" and no time to really practice.
I do the paper test and it seems fine, my dipped truffles are sort of OK, but the molds not. I think I wish the paper test right when it is not really. It dries OK, but the snap takes a while. I will try and add the lip test. Up to now I have not had the confidence to do it. Not trusting myself that I will be able to tell if it is right.
I'm off to temper another batch for my molds for Saturday. I'll try the lip test as well and I will let you know how it goes. It is a bit difficult to teach yourself with only the internet as your source.
Horrible to try and get a business going on less than a shoe string. Hardly money for the chocolate. This is actually one of my problems. I cannot afford to buy another bag of chocolate to use as seed and now I am probably skimping on the seed!
Thanks again.
Magriet
Can your chocolate be too shiny? I am asking this because I have tempered some chocolate to use in my molds. At the correct temperature, 29C for milk chocolate it became really shiny. When I molded with it I had chocolate bloom within minutes and I had to really tap it to get it to release from the mold after I have left it overnight.
Maybe when I molded it I tapped the molds too much to get rid of air bubbles? I just do not know. I am having two threads now that should probably have been one.
